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Sun of Shadows/Chapter 2
This is the second chapter in Sun of Shadows and the second in part one, Light. Last Chance Iris was balancing on the edge of the crow's nest when the sky turned black. She had always been one of the best when it came to climbing, these were things you just learned when you grew up on the streets. Only something drastic could make her lose her balance - something like utter darkness. From one moment to the other, it was as if she'd suddenly gone blind, as if someone had swallowed all the light in the world. At first she just stumbled, trying to grab the mast, but her grip went nowhere. She fell. Even if Iris couldn't see what was happening around her, she knew one thing: any second now she would hit the hard planks and break all her bones. Especially as a fragile Sky Elmin. She saw nothing, but she heard the others calling. Not her, of course not, they had no idea what was happening to her. Only one word reached her consciously, a thought that had also come to her right away: Shadows. Then a kind of bang - and silence. Yes, all her bones hurt, but it wasn't wood she had landed on. It was water. She'd been brought down from heaven and almost drowned once before, with Shimmer by her side. But this time, Shimmer wasn't here, she knew, it was only herself that sank to the bottom of the sea. Not today, she thought. No. This time she wouldn't get help, she had to save herself. She would save herself. Not only her honor demanded that - not that she actually had much of that -, but also all of her instincts. Up, they urged her. To the sky. But where was the sky? Where the light was, of course. But the Shadows were here and there was no light. Only darkness. Above and below, and all around her, nothing but empty black. Something grabbed her arm and she couldn't help but squirm. Whatever it was, it didn't let go. Dragged her along. Up - or down into the depths of the ocean? They weren't shark teeth, she could tell as much. Nor the claws of a Shadow that pierced her skin. But also not the strong, secure grip of Geb's rough hands. She almost thought it was more than a hand, as if there was more surface. Webs!, she realized, and then she already broke through the surface. She gasped as soon as she could, coughing up water at the same time. "Who -?" "It's me." The answer was as flat as it was cryptic, but that told her everything. "Arry." A soft groan beside her. "How did you -?" "Water Elm," he replied. "Now come on." She had no choice but to assume that he could actually see in the darkness somewhat. Without hesitation, he pulled her over to a part of the ship where she managed to get a hold and grope her way up the indicated steps. As soon as she reached the top, she wanted to drop on the deck, exhausted as she was, but that was out of the question. They had to get rid of the Shadows first. "Geb?", she called into the darkness. "Karzie?" "Over here!", she heard Geb's reply that seemed to come from infinitely far away. But then she was seized again and pushed against the railing, only that this time she knew it wasn't Arry. This creature had claws. If Iris had learned anything in the last few weeks, it was using her bluntness at the right moment. She gathered her courage even before her opponent could say anything. "So, you're gonna kill me now?" She could feel the confusion of her opponent. It took a moment for them to gather. "I could do that." It was a male voice, but not one she had heard before. He sounded relatively young, he couldn't be much older than her. "And will you?" Iris knew from Geb that the Shadows didn't actually mean to kill anyone, a very Shadow had told him. Whether that was true was questionable, but with luck she could distract her opponent and gain time. "Is that why you're here?" "No," another voice replied. That one she knew! "Khya!" "Yeah. Hi." The Shadow girl had to be close to her now. It was her who had spoken to Geb. Who supposedly didn't want to hurt them. "We didn't come to kill you. We're here to stop you." "By demolishing your ship," the boy added. Iris stared in her direction, not that she could see anything. Did they even know what they were talking about? "We're on the open sea, days from the coast! We are going to die without a ship." "That's true," Khya answered, even her voice was strained. "We're letting you die, that's passive, not active. And hey, maybe you'll be saved." She didn't sound particularly sure of that, and indeed, Iris dared to believe that Geb had been right. That Khya herself didn't want any of this to happen either. "Was that your idea, Khya? I thought we'd settled that." "Listen," the Shadow whispered to her. "You can be glad we're giving you the chance. We don't kill often, that's true, but Umbrath was serious. We're supposed to keep you from reaching your goal, and we're doing that right now." Umbrath. Iris shuddered at the name of the sixth Keeper. At the same time, she heard a sound she didn't like at all: breaking planks and a ship filling with water. She didn't have much more time to talk. "But why?", she dared ask. "If you knew where we are, you also know that we're heading for Xiro. You're too late, they've already thwarted our plan." She heard the confusion in the voice of the male Shadow. "They don't know it yet." "They? You mean we?" Iris perked up her ears, after all, that concerned her and her friends. "What are we supposed to know?" Of course, Khya didn't intend to answer her. "Nothing," she said. "Ignore Tecc. He's new." "Hey!", the boy whose name was apparently Tecc protested. "You didn't have to embarrass me on my first mission." An audible groan from Khya. "We should get out of here. It's better we get spared the sight." The sight of us drowning?, Iris wondered, but got no opportunity to speak aloud. Glaring bright light blinded her - daylight that seemed almost unbearable after the minutes of darkness. It took her a moment to get used to it, then she looked at the extent of the devastation with a hand to shield her from the light. She immediately spotted her friends, Geb and Karzelek were with their companions and not too far away. Neither of them seemed to be seriously injured, and soon after she saw that Shimmer was fine too. The magpie already landed next to the others while Iris herself made her way over to them. "Geb! Karzelek!", she exclaimed and hugged them both, too strong was the wave of relief that came over her. "Nothing happened to you." "And to you neither." Both had noticed how soaked she still was. "That really didn't sound good earlier. I knew you had to have fallen..." "... but we had no way to help you," Karzelek agreed with Geb. "Who saved you?" "That was Arry." Only then did Iris realize that she couldn't spot the boy anywhere. Now that the Shadows were gone, everything was surprisingly calm. Not even clothes were scattered across the deck - the Shadows must have come bodiless, not flown. Of course, she thought. We would have noticed them otherwise. But hadn't Khya talked about damaging the ship? How much had they done below deck? "We have to go downstairs." Geb looked like he had meant to do that anyway. "I know Thalassa is down there. Surely she needs our help." "Then what are we waiting for?" Iris ran to the opening that led below deck. But as soon as she was there, she heard it: the strange noise that announced the ingress of water. Loud enough to be really serious. Geb pushed past her, as always, she had been reluctant to lose sight of the sky. She suppressed her fears and followed him. At least it wasn't pitch black. No lamps were burning, but the glowing lines on Thalassa's skin tinted the room in a bluish light. A color that was supposed to calm, but right now, that was unthinkable. A narrow puddle had already formed and Iris had no doubt that it would soon be much larger. She also saw that Thalassa had already tried to seal the spot, but with no real success. Even if there hadn't been a huge hole in the planks, the crack was too long for an Elm alone to cover. So the friends started to help. Even under pressure - or especially then? - Thalassa gave instructions, told them what they could find where and bring to her. Iris didn't know much about seafaring, so she didn't question anything, and Geb and Karzelek did their best to demonstrate their skill with the hammer. Finally, Iris wiped the sweat from her forehead. "And?", she asked. "Are we done?" "For the moment," Thalassa said, her voice also filled with exhaustion. "But I don't know how long that will last. Leaks happen, but the Shadows knew what they were doing. I bet the steering wheel that at least one of them used to be a Water Elm with sailing experience." Karzelek grimaced. "Will we make it to the coast?" "Let's hope so." She didn't sound very convinced. --- But the leak wasn't their biggest problem. Iris and Thalassa had to realize that when they went back upstairs together to look for Arry. The boys, both stronger than the others, would grab some buckets to get the water out of the hull back into the ocean. Given Iris's own strength, or rather the absence of it, she clearly preferred Arry. Finding the boy wasn't too difficult. Of course, they first looked at the bow where he always stood. When he wasn't there, they looked down - and found him in the water with the whales who were the companions of him and his mother. The animals he had always watched so closely. Only when Thalassa mumbled a curse and jumped into the water without any warning did Iris suddenly realize that the ship had actually slowed down since the Shadow attack. Had the Shadows not only damaged the ship, but also hurt Wavebreaker? Thalassa's companion was the one pulling the ship after all... what if that had been their real plan? Yes, the whale had wounds, she saw that now. Not too serious injuries, because even Shadows had only claws on their fingers and no weapons, but there were many of them. His whole back was covered in them. Surely they hurt so much that the whale couldn't swim too fast. Salt water in the wounds would only make things worse, he had to be as careful as possible. Iris didn't want to interfere, so she just watched as the Elmen talked and seemed to get more and more worried. It was only after an unbearable eternity that Thalassa returned, her face revealing as little as Arry's. "How is he?", Iris dared ask. Thalassa just shook her head. "Go get the others." They met in the middle of the ship, where even Boulder had woken up by now. The rhino had somehow managed to sleep through all the commotion and now happily chewed on some fruit. At least Shimmer seemed to sense that something was wrong. The magpie was perched on Boulder's bulky back, shaking her feathers several times and tapping her toes uneasily, which Boulder probably didn't even feel with his thick skin. Only Arry was - of course - still with the whales. Thalassa took a deep breath. "So." The friends exchanged a glance, waiting for her to continue. "The Shadows attacked the ship," Thalassa continued, "but we were able to fix that damage as best as possible. However, they also hurt Wavebreaker, my companion." Iris nodded. She already knew that. "Can he keep pulling the ship?", Geb asked. "That's the problem." Thalassa glanced into the distance where Arry and the whales were. "Wavebreaker needs to get to the coast as soon as possible so we can treat his wounds. It's a long way to go and he will need all his remaining powers to get there. Pulling the ship weakens him too much." "And Arry's companion?", Karzelek asked. Iris, however, already felt the answer and got to hear it immediately afterwards. "No. He may not be hurt, but Arry is only sixteen. His companion isn't strong enough for this task." "So we'll leave the ship here," Iris guessed. Slowly she too became impatient. Couldn't Thalassa just tell them what was going on? "That's right. And you." Silence. Confused silence in the hope of having heard that wrong. It was Geb who spoke up at last. "Did you just say..." Thalassa nodded. At least she bit her lip as well, as if she was uncomfortable with the situation. Fantastic. "I talked to Arry. There's no other possibility." "Of course there is!", Iris protested as she finally regained her voice. "Your companions are whales. They can carry us no problem!" "You aren't wrong", said Thalassa, who, unlike Iris, was quite good at not losing her temper. "You actually could join us. You would just have to leave the rhino behind, Arry's companion won't manage that weight." Geb stared at her. "Leave Boulder here? He would die!" "Just like my companion will if I don't help him. And as far as I know, the killing law only applies to my tribe." Iris knew where this was going. "If Boulder stays here, we all do." "I know." Thalassa's gaze wandered to the stairs below. "We sealed the leak well. Stick to the course and if you're lucky you can make it to the coast without us and the whales. Or at least to the next ship ready to help you." There was nothing more to talk about, Iris knew. It was better they got it over quickly. But Geb was faster than her: "Thank you for everything. And good luck." Geb was really the only one among them who could convey these words convincingly. None of them had enjoyed the trip, especially compared to the one on the Halcyon so many weeks ago. "Greet Arry from us," Karzelek added, more out of courtesy than anything else. If Thalassa sensed that, she said nothing. "Have a good trip, too." She went into the cabin, returned with a bag, and then headed forward to the bow where she gave one last look to the friends before jumping overboard. Neither of them wanted to follow her to watch her disappear with Arry and the whales. Instead, they stayed where they were for quite a while, without saying anything. Without doing anything. At some point, Geb sighed. "And what now?" Category:Chapters Category:EE3 Chapters